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Thanks for sharing this Thomas. Will there be a video of your talk made available online? In my design and critical practice, we have been building a framework for "Community-Centered Design" to address many of the critiques that you raised about HCD. By "community" we mean more than just a collection of people, but the community of species that call our ecosystem home.

3.
HCD fails to recognize its own
paradoxes
HCD feigns political neutrality
HCD within capitalism is
fundamentally unsustainable
Premises
Thomas Wendt Surrounding Signiﬁers @thomas_wendt
In a way, this talk used HCD as a platform to talk about sustainability.
I maintain an ambivalent relationship to this topic, as I make part of my living by teaching HCD. But I think we need to think more critically about the
things we do everyday.
Focusing broadly on “centricity” in general. More of a critique of centricity; HCD is just a convenient target.

4.
“Practicing criticism
is a matter of
making facile
gestures difﬁcult.”
Michel Foucault
https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&ved=0ahUKEwi4-LGJ7e7OAhVJ1R4KHcOVDPAQjRwIBw&url=https%3A%2F%2Fredaccion.lamula.pe
%2F2016%2F05%2F04%2Fcinco-peliculas-para-acercarnos-al-pensamiento-de-michel-foucault%2Fmanuelangeloprado%2F&bvm=bv.
131669213,d.dmo&psig=AFQjCNE3qL9R4PaBFzANOa50w_DK0aGHgw&ust=1472842773590572
So the point of this talk is not to dismiss HCD but rather to call its ﬂaws into question while still remaining open to accept its beneﬁts.
This is not an anti-humanist talk

6.
Abductive reasoning
Studies of the artiﬁcial
Wicked problems
Complexity
Participation
Origins of HCD
Thomas Wendt Surrounding Signiﬁers @thomas_wendt
movement away from the original interest in complexity among the early design theorists

7.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&ved=0ahUKEwi4gM7m8e7OAhVJlR4KHf6vDdwQjRwIBw&url=http%3A%2F%2Falchetron.com
%2FGiancarlo-De-Carlo-767428-W&bvm=bv.131669213,d.dmo&psig=AFQjCNGN-ma0lCfhA0Cw8hU_XVdQtKoDWw&ust=1472844048049211
“Architecture is too
important to be left
to architects.”
Giancarlo De Carlo
Where Tim Brown got the “design version”
Anarchism, Participatory architecture for real human needs
Steelworks story. Vision for a participatory future in design.

12.
“The chief premise common
to both technology and
science is the notion that
there are no desirable limits
to the increase of
knowledge, of material
goods, of environmental
control; that quantitative
productivity is an end in
itself, and that every means
should be used to further
expansion.”
Lewis Mumford
https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&ved=0ahUKEwjQu76H-bfRAhVh3IMKHf_lDA0QjRwIBw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fcultura.elpais.com
%2Fcultura%2F2016%2F05%2F16%2Fbabelia%2F1463398051_720886.html&bvm=bv.142059868,bs.
1,d.eWE&psig=AFQjCNEpkm3ZcfJhbBiF6zsIR3QvKL4nkA&ust=1484150333852340
Hyper-rationalism leads to uncritical acceptance of innovation.
Mumford: classic techno-pessimist concerned with power structures in technical systems

13.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&ved=0ahUKEwjl37fu46bRAhVFOiYKHRMzDRYQjRwIBw&url=http%3A%2F%2Frebrn.com%2Fre
%2Fsuicide-nets-in-chinese-factories-that-make-various-technologica-540946%2F&bvm=bv.
142059868,d.eWE&psig=AFQjCNEVbTtmzQ93rJIOuQ0Z_xht4v6iVw&ust=1483560529919466
Innovation has a cost
Foxconn manufacturing (not just Apple but also HP, Nintendo, Sony, and others)
Even the net (as an innovaiton) ignores the real problem

14.
Human needs
≠
Market needs
Thomas Wendt Surrounding Signiﬁers @thomas_wendt
The biggest HCD paradox of all.
These are usually not compatible and are often at odds.

16.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&ved=0ahUKEwjwkL6jjanRAhXGOSYKHRagDFwQjRwIBw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fcyberspaceandtime.com
%2FYGfwr5AL7T4.video&bvm=bv.142059868,d.eWE&psig=AFQjCNHKJOBhHAPwD3fWOPybuVoPvXiHZA&ust=1483640340689596
“Designers
materialize morality.”
Peter Paul Verbeek
Wrote about this at length in Design for Dasein

17.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&ved=0ahUKEwi5kvmR7KjRAhWJbSYKHUdMD_cQjRwIBw&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.reddit.com%2Fr
%2FLateStageCapitalism%2Fcomments%2F4gidxe%2Fstone_balls_to_knock_passengers_off_indonesian%2F&bvm=bv.142059868,d.eWE&psig=AFQjCNHIjTbGu46j-
RqLHzChMC_7L0h4dA&ust=1483631455078080
These types of design get a lot of attention.

18.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&ved=0ahUKEwjEqsD27KjRAhUI7yYKHaqUBZwQjRwIBw&url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki
%2FLinkNYC&bvm=bv.142059868,d.eWE&psig=AFQjCNEGnqLP0hJPFX0mtSd7stqh6Uyyow&ust=1483631689849652
But these types of designs are equally political.
Free wiﬁ = sign in to collect data, auto log in, targeted ads
Designers made a political and ethical choice about what is important in an urban landscape. Ads, not community, social ties, culture, common good

19.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&ved=0ahUKEwjx77vS7O7OAhVJlR4KHUqoAxoQjRwIBw&url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki
%2FBill_de_Blasio&bvm=bv.131669213,d.dmo&psig=AFQjCNG5zE1H909KO14tQTY7MP4UVK_apA&ust=1472842656619228
"One thing I know
about my fellow
New Yorkers, they
like things that are
completely free of
charge.”
Mayor Bill De Blasio
Irony is that they’re not free at all.
Costing us a sense of dwelling. I’m scared by this neoliberal acceptance of invasive advertising.

21.
Thomas Wendt Surrounding Signiﬁers @thomas_wendt
Human
Centricity forecloses on everything outside the center
Human becomes sovereign in a system of which we are only a small part.
We don’t think about community, social ties, culture, common good, dwelling

22.
Thomas Wendt Surrounding Signiﬁers @thomas_wendt
Human
Everything Else
This is really what HCD espouses.
This is a political statement, and probably not one we want to make.

26.
Thomas Wendt Surrounding Signiﬁers @thomas_wendt
https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&ved=0ahUKEwjniZykyqrOAhUNySYKHULVBokQjRwIBw&url=https%3A%2F%2Ftechcrunch.com
%2F2016%2F06%2F28%2Famazon-expands-its-dash-button-program-to-50-more-brands-says-orders-taking-place-twice-a-minute%2F&bvm=bv.128617741,bs.
1,d.eWE&psig=AFQjCNHk53IK-_iuoOOZQ_6CIJrJffKjkw&ust=1470496941706454
This is what we end up with from companies we tend to associate with HCD. Things designed under the auspices of “human”needs”
These types of “modern conveniences” do not serve real needs; they instead serve to ensnare consumers in patterns of “convenient consumption.”

27.
We are so alienated from our food sources in modern industrial capitalism that we rely on packaged garbage to feed us. So we might cook up some Kraft
Mac and Cheese for dinner.

28.
The combination of sodium, carbohydrates, and artiﬁcial everything makes us dehydrated, so we turn to Gatorade to quench our thirst.

29.
All this sweetened, artiﬁcial food packed with preservatives upsets our digestive systems, so we always need an abundance of Cottonelle toilet paper.

30.
We use Clorox wipes to clean the kitchen, because anything less than clinical sterilization is unacceptable.

31.
And since the wipes are conveniently disposable, we throw them away in a Glad trash bag to be shipped off to the landﬁll.

32.
We put on some Loreal Youth Code after dinner to ward off any signs of natural aging.

33.
Now it’s time to tend to the children, feeding them their own form of packaged garbage in the form of Gerber baby food.

34.
And changing their Huggies diaper
And throwing the old one out in the Glad bag (it always ends in trash)

35.
Humans or Consumers?
Thomas Wendt Surrounding Signiﬁers @thomas_wendt
Who uses this stuff?
Is this empathy? Is it deception?

37.
Ecology
=
study of the home, dwelling
Thomas Wendt Surrounding Signiﬁers @thomas_wendt
Home is different than house; it includes physical, social, and ethical dimensions of dwelling. Dash buttons do not encourage dwelling.
Capitalist HCD at scale is not equipped to deal with ecological concerns. It tends to treat the “home” as a source of material to convert into capital.

38.
Thomas Wendt Surrounding Signiﬁers @thomas_wendt
https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&ved=0ahUKEwjniZykyqrOAhUNySYKHULVBokQjRwIBw&url=https%3A%2F%2Ftechcrunch.com
%2F2016%2F06%2F28%2Famazon-expands-its-dash-button-program-to-50-more-brands-says-orders-taking-place-twice-a-minute%2F&bvm=bv.128617741,bs.
1,d.eWE&psig=AFQjCNHk53IK-_iuoOOZQ_6CIJrJffKjkw&ust=1470496941706454
A landscape like this is not home

39.
“To separate ecological
problems from social
problems […] would be to
grossly misconstrue the
sources of the growing
environmental crisis. In
effect, the way human
beings deal with each
other as social beings is
crucial to addressing the
ecological crisis.”
Murray Bookchin https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&ved=0ahUKEwiLl9-b-LfRAhUH7YMKHfjSC0cQjRwIBw&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.jacobinmag.com
%2F2016%2F07%2Fmurray-bookchin-ecology-kurdistan-pkk-rojava-technology-environmentalism-anarchy%2F&bvm=bv.142059868,bs.1,d.eWE&psig=AFQjCNGMm2q-
R4TKozVEBBaPZMUqTB-DCw&ust=1484150126292221
Social ecology.
HCD tends to see design problems as things needing ﬁxing, rather than complex and systemic issues.